The Process Project : NCSU

+Okay+ (jumping in)

Pondering the title of the project, I keep thinking about if I (they, she, he, it) need(s) to make a physical mark or series of marks in downtown Raleigh, or to physically change the place somehow like Lee Walton. When I think of making a mark it is a physical, real mark, but maybe I don't have to think of it that way. In some of the other designers' work we talked about, the mark made by [pronoun] wasn't physically made by [pronoun]. It just was, and through it's existence or random action, it left a mark on the designer's work.

{and then some thought on materials} I'm interested in using paper to execute the system. Folding and cutting it according to some variable. I'm still not sure about what variables to use. Then maybe I would use the folds and cuts to extract some greater information, or to make marks with, or something.

quick question about finding typefaces: are we responding to the general concepts of "then" and "now" or more specifically to raleigh then and now?

emily - i assumed the typefaces would be related to the concepts of "then" and "now" but as related to raleigh. like i was looking at environmental type that i had photographed from downtown/squares vicinity, and trying to see what feelings it evoked, and categorizing it to "then" and "now." i could be way off, but that was where my thinking started.

what does anyone else think?

that's kind of what i was thinking too. also just looking at different descriptions of what raleigh is as a city (personality, economy, environment, etc.) then and now...how those qualities might translate into typographic formal qualities...

I think it's about getting a sense of environmental type from older locations and newer locations, and finding a typeface that evokes each kind.

Thats a good idea Ali. I agree with yall about the typefaces. I found some old documentaries that reaveal typefaces that will be easy to find. Im doing the same kind of thing for the "now" typfaces, taking pictures from downtown and looking at some common characteristics between them all. I find more of a consistency with the older ones, some look letterpressed, which give it a more clean and crisp look with mostly black and white lettering. There are some decorative approaches but pretty straightforward focusing on the advertising aspect. There is definitely more of a variation between modern typefaces.

Alright, time to talk about chance now.......ughhhhhhhh this is hard. Anyways, I decided to start off with the definition of system and chance to get a better understanding or idea of some kind of system that I can apply.

Here are a few of my ideas:
using Roman numerals as a system of making marks: whenever I see or hear a number as I walk around downtown I have to mark them down through roman numerals until they cover a page

I can walk through downtown and play the Alphabet game; whenever I see, hear, smell, taste, or feel something, I match the word I generate with a letter of the Alphabet(If I see a tree, I can put it for the letter T) Maybe this will generate some sort of narrative when I finish with the alphabet.

I could interview people of the types of chances they take or have taken

Interview people about what it means to have a last chance and the baggage that comes with that expression.

I could see who will let me take their fingerprints and let them make a mark, or I could ask someone to make a mark that describes them.

Ask people to make up a word and draw a picture that explains their word or the definition of it.

I dunno these are just some ideas. Thought I would get them out.

I might have to make a system to select my pronouns because there are so many!

PRONOUNS:

Personal>> I my mine me you your yours you he she it his her hers its him her it we our ours us you your yours you they their theirs them

Interrogative>> who whose whom whoever whomever which that what

Indefinite>> everybody anybody somebody all each every some none one nough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some

Demonstrative>> these those this that

Reflexive>> ourselves yourselves myself themselves himself herself

Reciprocal>> each other, one another

yay, I am not the only one who had to make the extensive list of pronouns to even start...

hey sarah
the roman numerals is my fav of that list.
I think that the alphabet one could work but right now it is too broad, just because we experience (see, smell, taste, touch,etc) so much in each second that i dont' think you could really acurately represent it unless you have a more specific system.
As for the ones involving people, i think that you should rely on yourself doing the work collecting in response to what people naturally do.

just a few quickly packaged thoughts

So here is what I'm thinking:

TYPEFACE: Nothing coming (as of right now).

CHANCE: I've always had fun with this and thought this would be a great chance (hahaha…pun intended) to develop this idea further: when I'm searching for images sometimes, I'll just type in a series of numbers and/or letters in the Google image search (i.e. "0024j") and see what comes up. You get some really interesting and very random stuff.

Another thing that I've messed with before that may be an extension of this is opening up a jpg document in TextEdit and deleting, modifying, copying and pasting, or rearranging parts of the code of the photograph. You can then save it and open in back up in Photoshop and the image will be different, sometimes in color, or will be rearranged, or have great little computer characters and stuff super-imposed on it. It's really a lot of fun.

So basically I'm interested in figuring out how to create a methodology to use these two things so I can generate images, ideas, words, etc. What I've thought about so far is randomly searching for images on Google, taking the first four, and somehow systematically rearraging the jpg code between the four images...then doing that, like, a hundred times with lots of different images. It's great because you never know what you're going to get.

I'm actually kind of excited about it and hope that it works out. I think this is what we're supposed to do?

In addition, I think it might lead the way to an interesting commentary on the relationship that we have with technology and possibly how that is evident in the square or how it could be further explained throught the square.

I'm interested in doing contour line drawings with my eyes closed like this bird

Right now, I'm thinking that I could use a grid over photographs to determine the part of the image that I draw. The selection would happen through battleship style coordinates chosen by rolling die. OR the collection of drawings are all placed via such coordinates and they would interact and overlap.

At first I was thinking about have a system that determined what type of utensil that I draw with as well as what image/object. I feel like this would be too many variables....

FORREST!!!! I JUST TRIED THAT OUT, IT IS THE COOLEST THING EVER, YOU COULD HAVE EACH PERSON IN THE CLASS DO ANY PICTURE THEY WANT AND SEND IT TO YOU AND THERE YA GO, A HUGE VARIETY OF IMAGES AND CONTENT ALL FOR YOU

PRETTY KEWL!!!

i just tried the google thing too. AMAZING. my boyfriend fed me the random number combinations and i typed them in. forrest - i really like how you want to comment on technology's role in society through that chance exercise

along with this chance thinking....i also was still thinking on our site of downtown. today's N&O had it's front page feature titled "Coming Back Downtown: Live. Work. Play" and commented on Raleigh's current attmepts to revitalize downtown. the paper visited three "vibrant" downtown cities to determine what makes a successful downtown. it was an interesting read with it's comparison to Charlotte, as far as downtown "living" situations goes, since charlotte has a downtown population of 9500 and raleigh has 2200 - and how this affects the atmosphere of downtown. anyway, it was an interesting read, and good timing!

I definitely will have to try these google and textedit things! Thanks for the fun ideas, Forrest! I like your idea, but I'm concerned that it might not relate to Raleigh enough. I thought it was about generating chance-bred material through a system that uses the city more specifically. Otherwise, how is [pronoun] making a mark? I guess I think it's a pronoun that would be something in the city or making a mark on the city. So with random google images I worry that you'll be going on a tangent. But maybe [pronoun] does not leave a mark on the city or from the city? Maybe it can work after all. Are you confused? I've confused myself.

Steph, I like your bird. Maybe you could do a lot of these drawings, and then cut them into squares, and then place the squares all together on a bigger paper according to your coordinates system? I think a coordinates system is enough, because you have x and y and what square (maybe you could number them) and those could all be affected by different things.

I went to the News and Observer online to look at that article Alison mentioned … and found this forum that people were using to make comments about the article … it's interesting.

This is that article.

question and kinda wondering/stuck yes that's it. anyways of ramble. TYPEFACE? well when driving downtown today I was thinkinga bout a couple of things relating to type. I thought about how old stores/places downtown have hand painted signage vs the newer places that have printed signage. and how Those things define different time periods in the city. Going with the handsignage theme for "then" type, is that going back far enough? I like the idea of relating to raleighs changes through signage since it is actual type type in the city. so basically it comes down to buisness oriented signage.. . Family Run vs Corporate (wait is that another opposite?) hmmm thoughts?

I'm on the same track with a lot of people concerning our initial typeface explorations. I've driven around a lot and looked at what has been displayed— but I've also tried to get close to things that aren't displayed, but within a layer of a building, book, or package.

I've been trying to notice formal characteristics of the "now" and relying on my dreamy personal story for the then.

As far as a system, I'm still exploring........ so many options...... directions, I haven't thought too much about the leave {pronoun} mark... so that will probably help me some to gain a direction

I'm still sort of unsure about the type we need for today. Do we need a whole typeface that we can use? Or can it be just photogrphs of random downtown photography?

Ali, to answer your questions: I was thinking about "Leaving [Its] Mark" (as in technology or the computer). In a very literal way, this process of manipulating images allows the computer to leave its mark on the photograph (in addition, it also determines which images it's going to leave it's mark upon).

As for the square, I was under the impression that the idea is to start off really broad and somehow relate it back to Raleigh (?). At least that's what I've done so far. I'm a lot like you, though. I catch myself asking "what does this have to do with the square?" or "how am I going to translate this into a final product and what's my message going to be?" I think we may be thinking about it too hard...from what Maggie said, we're just generating stuff and then using the archival documents and type to relate it back to Raleigh later on in the process. Any thoughts?

ok forrest. Yes i think maybe you are thinking too much about the end result. As i see it right now, we need a system that works. Your final think whatever it is will be created from your study. so I think it would be best not to start thinking about the end, so that you can respond to the work that comes from your study without trying to force it into something. also we are talking about downtown raleigh, so dont' worry about relating it to the square, chances are just because you know alot about the square you explorations may take you there, but it's ok if they don't. Create, and Make and test.. . and have fun doing those things.. .

I've been thinking a lot about these archival documents and the way that they relate to Raleigh. I've taken the liberty to relate them to Raleigh through my concept of sadness, grocery stores and nutrition...

I'm getting myself confused... and then I figure that I can't go wrong.. and I just make..

will see tomorrow.

I have been interpreting this archival aspect of the project maybe in a different way than others. I did go to the archives downtown, but felt that the documents there were arbitrary to my intent. I should clarify my intent first. I want to represent the "mark" through individuals unfinished or finished meals at a so called "greasy spoon" restaurant (Ole Time Restaurant). This idea of representing people or just what they have eaten makes me think of Raleigh as a whole and the type of people that make up Raleigh. I wanted to portray Raleigh through old agriculture and engineering theses as well as books I found in used bookstores. I wanted to see what came out of this exploration and ended up finding surprising results. I have included some images that don't fit into any system, but I thought that was okay for this stage of the project. I know there is not really a wrong answer at this stage because we are gathering information and images. I just had to get all those thoughts down in writing. Hopefully it will all come together.

I went to the archives, and I took a lot of photos, and I went to the history museum, and I bought a print of a map, and I analyzed the map and the photos, and found a formal structure to use somehow, and I think I've worked out what typefaces I want, and I have some chance operations systems, but … they don't seem to be related!! argh. I'm having trouble coming up with some kind of idea to pull it all together. I guess I need to work on the chance operations more. I don't know what I'm studying, what the variables should be.

An episode of This American Life about mapping that I suspect will be of interest to most of you, including a segment on Denis Woods's mapping project of Boylan Heights.

My chance operation or way of collecting data was marking how many times someone touches their face at Cup a JOe. So, I Went to Cup a Joe again last nite-started looking at people touching their face and the different gestures they do. Im making comments on all the different gestures and then I am going to have a friend be a modeland draw how their hands rest on their face. This kind of relates to the type of people that go to a coffee shop, most are studying or looking at newspapers, and reading. So whenever in deep thought I saw people touching their faces a lot. This could almost turn into some kind of language for the coffeehouse. Maybe illuminating the environment. I could take the gestures and create a set of icons for this type of culture, or even a typeface like the twin cities. What do you guys think?

I've been stuck in a rut and spinning my wheels, getting no where. I had all of those line drawings and a collection of archival photos...so I was thinking about drawings vs. photographs. I had been thinking that photographs are showing one particular momment and, in this instance, the past. Drawings seem to be the present since it is my hand and my pen leaving marks now. I thought that I could draw on top of the historical photos to show what else could have happened after or before the momment the photo was taken, bringing the photo to life. I don't think that this is a bad idea but sadly I think I have to admit that I'm not imaginative enough to think of the next action. Plus my drawing skills are not great (I didn't feel any pressure with the other line drawings). Basically I lost interest in it...

So I've gone back to the very beginning and started deconstructing the title of the project to see if there is a different way i can look at things.

Leaving/leave/leaves/left:
to go without taking or removing (leave behind)
to remove oneself, omit, exclude, depart, abandon

Mark/marks/marking/marked:
visible trace or impression
sign made in lieu of a signature
a target
object or point that serves as a guide

I am interested in direction of abandonment or removal. Instead of adding to the images, I am taking away from them. Currently I am printing the image out and then cutting out something in the photo that is temporary, that will leave or have left. I am not sure yet what this will yeild, and I am still feeling a bit of panic from this uncertainty (not to mention the time of night of this new direction).

BUT I have renewed energy which is much better than earlier today.

Thoughts?

Stephanie, I think that you are on to something with the concept of leaving behind and what this means to history. I think that the challenge now is to visual this and add a context/power/message to it. Perhaps it lives in an animation of an object passing through history (represented through your instant drawings.)

As far as where I am, I hung out in Wal Mart for two hours the other night, while I got my oil changed. I noticed a lot of the branding/marketing techniques that one can only notice after much time on the aisles of a superstore. I tried to identify what makes this such a fake-happy experience and what the experience of a sad person would be in this space. Why can't the packaging communicate more directly to a sad person? For example, I picked up a cheer laundry detergent and it is all "happy, we are going to do laundy." On the back there is a picture of an all-american mother and daughter hugging and folding cloths. It seems to be that the packaging could be more direct, honest, and approachable if it reflected the demise and emotional state of the user. Chances are more likely that the person buying the detergent isn't going to go home and wash clothes like a bonding experience with their children, but rather it is a single mother in the middle of the night needing to grab a detergent so that she can go home and do clothes while the kids are asleep and in between her job shifts— so her kids can have clean cloths (not a bonding experience with her.) Since when did packaging become an idolized society? Does this alienate the user? Could the user become more involved in the packaging?

Long winded and confusing. Hopefully I can better articulate this emotionally-directed marketing plan in person.

Unfortunately I have hit my "lack of sleep" wall and I have not finished all I would like to have, nor what I needed to get done tonight.
As of right now I have decided that my final product will be a book of historical photos that have the figures of people removed from them. Their mark is being left by their absence of the image. My brain is not working clearly enough to figure this out but some sort of image or text would be behind the die cut page for a reveal/window.

I've collected lots of business cards, quotes from people, left over napkins, and made drawings of their paths. All quite simple things but I thought the comparison of them was interesting when thinking of how personal each item is.
A business card is something that someone prints and places in public but it is still pretty personal. Besides including information like phone number/address these business cards that I collected were mostly homemade or at least designed in a personal way.
The quotes that I collected, some of them being quite personal, I started to think of as a type of card of the person like the business cards. So I wrote them down on index cards along with some drawings of movements and gestures.
I also checked out a gigantic book from the library of all the vital records of Raleigh citizens between 1820-1829.
Here's an entry:
Miles: Born in England, near London, in the year 1734. In the year 1753 he was kidnapped and brought to America and sold in the State of Maryland for the term of five years. Died in the 93rd year of his age.
Some entries are less telling but still pretty personal.
Maggie offered the idea of a visual obituary. So now I'm begining to fabricate the story of these people's lives through the vital records and my other collections.

Stephanie, I'm with you. I left last night after three or four seemingly unproductive hours and was pretty discouraged because I didn't really feel like I got much of anywhere.

I was hoping to have a definite idea of what I was doing today as well as some visuals and in-progress design stuff to look at but it's not happening.

btw, Kerry, I like the idea about emotional packaging. It seems like a really cool experiment. Like Maggie said, it would be cool to see a range of different approaches too.

I had an idea yesterday that I've been refining, scrapping, reviving, etc. for the past 24 hours. I have this idea for a film that would be entitiled "The Mark We Left." The film would be a satirical, faux-documentary about a series of fictional excavations conducted in the year 3056 in the area that was once Raleigh, North Carolina. Civilization as we know it today has been destroyed and rebuilt nearly half-a-dozen dozen times and there is virtually no written record of previous generations. What they know about us and our civilization is soley based on the things they uncover, how we treated the environment, what we built, etc. .

The purpose of the film is to force film-viewers to take on an outside perspective of our culture and objectively see ourselves from the point-of-view of a futuristic human who knows nothing about us. Without being really cheesy.

Obviously I'm not going to make a movie, though. What I'm thinking about doing is introducing the film through the DVD packaging, and/or a movie poster, and/or DVD menu, etc.

Like I said, I've tossed around the idea so much, but there's some part of me that believes in it and that it could be really interesting.

studio time in 15min.

Last night i was lost. I thought i had something then i didn't then i had hope again then it was lost. SO.. . I decided that it was rediculous for me to continue to sitting infront of my computer frustrated.

To clear my frustration tory and I went down to the copier, and began replicating and shrinking and enlarging the stuff I had collected/drawn. I cut up the papers and layed them out timeline—ish.

I thought that in Making, I would get out of my rut. I'm not so sure about that though. I'm looking forward to comments today.

Further thoughts have me swimming deeper into thinking what photographs of people mean as identifiers. Photos are visible traces of their subject matter, in my focus people, and are therefore marks. I go through the boxes of pictures at the Reader's Corner and I buy pictures, often of people, that are interesting to me. I don't know who these people are, yet I am encountering a mark of them that was left. So by removing the people from these images, I am removing their mark.
This whole thought process started with trying to figure out what cutting people out of pictures meant and why should I do it, and I'm getting a bit confused.

yay for small groups.

interactivity.. . here i come

So, I am feeling pretty good after our group discussion today, everyone's projects are really developing and good feedback is given.

As far as my project goes. My comment concerns the encouragement of contemplation at Cup A Joe. Coffe shops in general have been well established gathering places for hundreds of years.Coffe shops- like Cup A Joe serving as my main site for this project-are a unique like "institution" in the social, cultural, commercial, and political life. I want to highlight this type of activity at Cup A Joe and spur the notion of thinking, discussion groups, reading, studying, philosophy, theology, and everything that falls into the concept of culture with in a coffee shop.

The way I captured the gesture,concept, or language of Cup A Joe was through observing the people that go there. Most are studying, talking, in groups, reading, or look as if they are in deep thought or contemplating something. The gesture of the hand touching the face was a repetitive action among people I observed.Inspired by the gestures of these people with their hand to their face, I have designed ANOTHER mark for cup a joe that can speak to the people that go there since the data comes directly from them. ---basically gathering data directly from my audience---

So, I knew the form needed to come directly from my context and defining my audience. I am taking objects or things in the coffee shop that already exist and making them more visible. For example, I will apply my design and what I want to say or prose directly to a
napkin, the cups, coasters, or on little pamphlets or booklets at the counter.

On these objects can be questions that trigger conversation or causes one to stew over an answer. I can present deep thoughts on the objects or make historic references to coffee, its' orgin, and jargin used. I basically want to build upon the concept of thought and spur the notion of thinking, culture, contemplation, and the pursuit of Mental Exercise.

I am really trying to work on how I make the mark fit well with the existing Cup A Joe logo. I dont want to make the design look coorporate either because Cup A Joe is against Big Coorporations like Starbucks. Thats where I'm at as of today, Wednesday. Thanks everyone that has given input.

comment: people are capable to form relationships through seemingly unrelated things

home: in an interactive space (online or in an exhibit or as a teaching aide/guide in the classroom)

who: it is for an audience that is insitefull

comment: people need to become more aware of reprocussions of population explosion/growth
application: "tract" that humorously poses solutions to the problem at a local level (still unsure oh how far to take it)
audience:raleigh officials (office of growth management)
home: handed to them. enviromentalist lobbyists?

comment: Hearing a sound is not the only way to experience a sound.

audience: People in attendance at a specified symphony performance.

what: a book compiled of 3 separate juxtaposing visual interperatations of Beethoven's moonlight sonata (that night's actual performance will be recorded) which pace themselves progressively through the turning of pages.

distribution: upon exiting the theater, those in attendance may place an order for one of these books. The visual interperation in the book will be dirived directly from the frequencies of that particular night's performance.

With the exploration of removing people from photographs, removing their mark, my comment was more about a person's prescence, existence, and longevity through photography. That the people in the historical images have long been dead but still have their mark in the world and that I had been trying to show that by literally removing them. An interesting exercise that I am now not pursuing futher.

NOW: My group and I went back to my drawings and discussed several possible directions including a different way to represent history. When I was talking about what I had done, I unintentionally ended up saying something along the lines that people who are not in historical books fade away and no longer exist after enough generations. The drawings are more interesting than the photos and in several cases are a more truthful representation because they have the ability to be expressive in ways that photography can not. Combining several parts, I believe that I am going to design a book for normal, non-history makers, to document themselves and make their own history book (perhaps through drawing..?).

I AM SAYING: That history is just a record or narrative of events that can belong and be made from everyone. History is everyday and everyday life.

(it took a lot of typing to get that out)

purpose: generate interest in preserving Raleigh's historical sites and this issue of whatever form it turns out to be will be for the Raleigh cemetaries and memorial parks.

for: Raleigh volunteer and service groups and Raleigh citizens.

Okay ... this will change, I am sure of it. For now:

Comment: People don't experience space as lines and squares like our traditional maps represent it. Experience is about all the senses and our inner thoughts and reactions to these stimuli.

Form: A "different" kind of map of the original five square area of downtown (central part including the five original squares) that includes more kinds of representation of the space than just a basic graphic one (flat shapes and lines).

Home: I am not sure yet where you would get my map, I think this will become clearer as I narrow down what new information specifically I will put on the map. I am working hardest right now on trying to figure out my audience and that will determine most of my current unknowns (*pretty sure*)

Good luck everyone

My comment is packaging should communicate more honestly to the emotions and situations of the users rather than what the producers/consumers would prefer their situations to be.

The audience is a stressed-out, sad demographic of consumers looking for calming, necessity products— like detergent, paper towels, soap.

The format, through the packaging of the products— and in some cases the product itself— serves as the most immediate connection with the buying process and also allows for the product to follow them home to their private lives and continue to connect with them in ways currently untapped. Competitors' products offer either an empty, abstracted active visual arrangement of bright colors or an idolized version of what life is suppose to be like using their products. However, there is no reason why this space cannot be activated in a more efficient way to connect with the user and their current emotional state, while remaining the same necessity item— or in the case of paper towels printing messages that are more relevant to their emotional and situational status.

This project matters because it proposes a new way for product packaging to connect with the consumer. It allows for an emotional match to be made between the user and the producer. Imagine going to the grocery store in the middle of the night stressed out and needing to get detergent. You enter the aisle and all the brand are happy and yelling for you to buy them and join in on the fun. You don't feel their fun though. You could be apathetic and just buy one, but why not make this moment meaningful? There is one brand that sympathizes with you, an old friend per se, it is there for you and isn't yelling at you but is there to listen. It calms you, and you check out.

Perhaps nothing is gained, but at least nothing is lost and you are respected by the product and its understanding of your current feeling. (The other ones just looked at you and yelled... making you feel worse.)

My comment: The information gained about someone as a result of what is left behind is often more powerful and even more truthful than the information gained through the presence of that person.

The audience: the groups of people who eat in these restaurants.

The thing: It will be in either a book format showing the pictures and what people have to say about who the picture represents, or it will be hung in the restaurants with the customers comments. I am also still playing around with the idea of putting these images on an object (placemats, towels, plates, etc.) and placing them in different locations in order to find different meanings. (still not 100% sure on this part)

Where it will live: in the restaurants (Ole Time Cafe & Hayes Barton). If I go with the last idea It would be interesting to see it live in contrasting environments (nice restuarants, homes, fast food restuarants, etc.) to comment on how the presence of such imagery affects the audience.

comment: explanation/analysis of how current connotations and formal qualities of a typeface can be used appropriately and inappropriately, especially as seen in signage typography

audience: a person who would be interested in making a sign (as for a business or event) and would need more insight on their choices of typefaces used and what they say

application: handout/pamphlet that would possibly have a center fold out poster; this would exist at a store (signs by tomorrow, or kinko's) for the customer to read to take home as a reference for choosing typography for signs

umm im stil not exactly sure which way i should try to steer my project right now...i think i may have to rethink the final form. i had a couple thoughts,
ferrinstance: i was thinking of targeting a message at children about conformity and being yourself and etc. and using the idea that how and where we move in a city is totally determined by the buildings and architecture and if you dont end up a zombie turning street corners and find your own path then youll be all right after all. its more a message for everyone but i thought it would be better told subltley through a childrens story, pluss sappy idealistic stuff like that is pulled off alot easier in a kids book. so i was thinking i could explore what the experience should be of that story being told & through what medium. or doing something like that

or another thought: still in the same vein of thinking about our movable space being trapped into this city grid, would be to make pieces for the beautification and appreciation of raleigh, targeted at the citizens and for something like the city council or raleigh publicrelations, or something. i thought about having pieces that would encourage a widening of your view about the city, encourage wandering and exploration and seeing things in different ways and kind of stepping out of how {your current position, destination, and monuments in between}yourenvironment is dictating what you experience all the time. suggesting maybe the city has more to offer than youre giving it credit for.

but uhhhh...yeah i dont really knowk i feel like those are still begginnings tho...sooooo anyone go through radical form changes recently?

so for those that weren't in my group, i am looking at creating a system of "signs" to place around downtown at sites where buildings have been demolished or have burned down and have been replaced. These signs would feature a transparent image of the old structure that, when viewed by pedestrians, can line up with the actual current view of the same spot. (Example: someone can walk up to one of these signs in front of the First Citizens Bank on Fayetteville St. Mall, and look through the image of the old Citizens National Bank that once stood there and see both at the same time.) These signs would feature information about the original structure (what it was used for, architecture, stories, etc.) and the current one, an explanation of why the change occured, etc. I may also provide maps or pamphlets that viewers can take with them.

So. Comment: It is important to be aware of and interested in the history of our place and culture; this creates a sense of community over time (past, present, future) for participants which, in turn, encourages downtown activity and personal accountability as a citizen of raleigh.

Audience: Pedestrians downtown. Anyone who happens to walk by, regardless of whether they are a tourist, a "regular," etc.

Where it lives: (See Above.)

Ive been lost making fairly meaningless combinations of the different sets of 'stuff' ive collected, as if im obligated to use everything... comparing the people in city spaces then and now, overlaying photos of fayetville st. as it progressed over the years, juxtaposing old photos with present dialogue. i feel tho im trying to make some overly general comment on the perception of time which isnt appropriate.

Last night I went back to my original practice of placing colourful gesture drawings with an old photo, not directly as i had thought i should do, but in a way to suggest walking into the past. It's becoming a series of print materials, posters maybe, to promote the raleigh history festival, put on by city museum.

WHAT I AM DOING

================

I had this idea for a film that would be entitiled "The Mark We Left." The film would be a satirical, faux-documentary about a series of fictional excavations conducted in the year 3056 in the area that was once Raleigh, North Carolina. Civilization as we know it today has been destroyed and rebuilt nearly half-a-dozen dozen times and there is virtually no written record of previous generations. What they know about us and our civilization is soley based on the things they uncover, how we treated the environment, what we built, etc..

So I'm going to introduce this film and its ideas through the packaging for the DVD.

WHAT I AM SAYING

================

The film will address a lot of issues such as how we treat the environment, the trivial things that we spend so much time on, how obsessed we are with technology and being cool. It would probably be good to narrow it down, though which I plan on doing here in a bit. On a large scale, I want people to be able to take an outside perspective on our world and see ourselves in the grand scheme of human history rather than just looking at our lifetimes and nothing before or after.

WHY DOES IT MATTER

================

This matters--and is particularly relevant at this time in history--because I think the world (or perhaps just our culture) and become so self-centered and rarely stops to think what impact we're having on our environment, our society, and how we will be remembered.

alright, any one thing i will make/have made for this project would be for the sake of having a finished project, which i dont much care for at this point. am going to draw and look at typography today, to no end.
that matters to me, because i wont go home today hating design.

>.

DON'T GIVE UP DIANNA!!!!!!!!!!!
I know how you feel … I got to the point where I hated design when I was a junior in my first semester (I was a junior for four semesters) and I just gave up because I couldn't take it anymore and I literally just dropped out of all my classes in frustration and didn't come back to design classes for a full year. You are not alone! And if the past doesn't tell you that, then know that on this very project I have been shuffling around too and have felt like an ant that lost the track and is now wandering across an endless stretch of unforgiving concrete, never to see the colony again! (maybe not that dramatic)

so …
what's the one thing you like most of all the stuff you have?
what do you like just because it's f-ing pretty?
could it live as something else that is a graphic design object?

what is the idea with the most potential that you have?
if the problem with it is logistical, can you simplify it?

I can't come up with anything else to try and ask. I helped myself some by looking at what Sarah, Kerr, and Paul are doing because my problem was that I was really stuck on thinking I had to make something using all of these elements in the project together and my collections seemed unrelated. But each of them just used the initial collections and data-gathering to come up with an idea they liked or something that interested them and then they went with that as a project focus. As of Friday all three of theirs were pretty different from (although still inspired by) then/now type, archives, making a mark, and chance operations. I had to shed some stuff that was unnecessary to me and focus in on the maps, which is what I really liked.

I hope this helps you a little?? Don't give up! It's ok! there there

What I am now doing *please feedback?*

I have thought long and hard about audience and what to map exactly. What I am going to do is map places to sit down in the central downtown area. I know, there could be a lot of them. I will do my best to get a good bit recorded. This is for an older audience, to show them downtown Raleigh can be a nice place to just come and enjoy the weather, instead of focusing on all the activities that there are to do there which are geared more to kids and parents or young people.

The form will be a fold out map and some kind of supplemental thing which I'm not sure of yet. The package of the two things together will be a part of a community outreach program to seniors that helps them get out of the house for enjoyment and quality of life. It could be connected to those services that offer transportation to seniors.

This is important because society often overlooks the needs and desires of seniors since they have left the workforce and are quieter members of the community as a part of getting older. With the increasing numbers of seniors due to aging baby-boomers, now is an important time for Raleigh to reach out to this age group and show them that the city is accessible for them.

The latest revision of my project and what I am going with, because it is too late to turn back now, is to design material surrounding an exhibit of vital records and geneology at the Raleigh City Museum in conjunction with the Raleigh City Archives.

The exhibit I think will be a combination of already archived family trees and birth/death/marriage records of Raleigh from the 1700s until now. I also think I will invite Raleigh citizens to participate in one part of the exhibit by contributing their family history and their stories within the context of their family trees.
Making the City of Oaks into a metaphor for geneology and family trees of Raleigh.
I'm going several directions for this idea.

1. invitational and promotional material surrounding the exhibit
2. design of the exhibit space
3. online geneology and personal stories

This might also be a good transition to the last project because I'm interested in extending it.

happy weekend everyone

My final idea for this project is to treat the food images as portraits of people. I want to make a psychological statement about the people that ate this food and why their finished plates look the way they do. I am still intrigued by the idea that someone can gain more information about a person from what they have left behind. I will make a list of rules and create a story about who the pictures respresent. Some of the parameters for this will be things like: If the napkin is crumpled then the person must be messy or stressed out, if the area around the plate is clean then the person must be concerned with family values. These are just a few ideas for "if, then" situations that I will make up. The product of this project will be turned into a book that will be in the restaurants for purchase.

the project came together
yay.
i look forward to seeing what everyone made tomorrow!

jess, kerry, and amanda (and whoever else sent that nice package for me)-
hey- thanks so much for the cool handmade poster and the scarf! i wore it for my presentation at the conference.
i hope you guys are doing well. all of you are graduating soon huh? what are your plans?
please send me a email if you have time. my address is jsueda@sbcglobal.net
it would be great to catch up with you guys.
thanks again-
jon